New board targets youth crime

Tuesday

Mar 13, 2012 at 8:42 AM

Local youths who have had trouble with the law will soon be offered help aimed at reducing their chances of committing more crime.

Kris JohnsonStaff Writer

Local youths who have had trouble with the law will soon be offered help aimed at reducing their chances of committing more crime.Councilwoman Arlanda Williams proposed reactivating the Children and Youth Planning Board, which disbanded a few years ago after some agencies involved lost interest.“There was a loss of interest back then, but there’s a need now,” she told the council, meeting Monday as its Community Development Committee. “The energy is back, so we’ll push forward while it’s there.”The board’s goal will be to come up with ideas for preventative programs to keep at-risk youths out of jail and to stage interventions for those who already have a criminal record. Board members will be appointed from the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, local mental-health agencies, the Houma Police Department, the juvenile department at the parish court, local faith-based organizations, child advocates, social-service agencies and the Terrebonne Parish School Board.All of those organizations and institutions deal with children daily. “The board will strategize for ways to create a diversion from the criminal-justice system for children,” Williams said. Councilman John Navy was on the Children and Youth Planning Board in 2007. He said he doesn’t know why the board didn’t last. “We would meet, but then it just stopped. I honestly don’t really know what happened. But what concerns me is that we definitely need it right now. We have some major problems with youth involved in crime in our parish,” Navy said.Navy said the program is needed as state budget cuts threaten the few services that exist to address the issue.“We have one great program in place that benefits children at risk, the Le Cirque program, but we just found out that with the budget cuts in Louisiana right now, it’ll be eliminated,” Navy said.Le Cirque is a collaborative agreement between Nicholls State University and the Terrebonne Housing Authority. Nicholls students go into the Senator Circle housing development and provide mentoring, tutoring and life-skills services.Parish Council members said they are concerned about the cut and have invited Lisa Schilling, director of the state’s South Louisiana Human Services Authority, to speak during Wednesday’s council meeting. It starts at 6 p.m. in the Government Tower, at Main and Gabasse streets.“We are going to ask why the program is being cut and what alternative measures are in place, if any, to replace it,” Navy said.

Staff Writer Kris Johnson can be reached at 857-2209 or kris.johnson@houmatoday.com.